GEORGE Bush pulled out of a speech to the European Parliament when MEPs wouldn't guarantee a standing ovation.

Senior White House officials said the President would only go to Strasbourg to talk about Iraq if he had a stage-managed welcome.

A source close to negotiations said last night: "President Bush agreed to a speech but insisted he get a standing ovation like at the State of the Union address.

"His people also insisted there were no protests, or heckling.

"I believe it would be a crucial speech for Mr Bush to make in light of the opposition here to war. But unless he only gets adulation and praise, then it will never happen."

Mr Bush's every appearance in the US is stage-managed, with audiences full of supporters.

It was hoped he would speak after he welcomed Warsaw pact nations to Nato in Prague last November. But his refusal to speak to EU leaders face-to-face is seen as a key factor in the split between the US-UK coalition and Europe.

The source added: "Relations between the EU and the US are worsening fast - this won't help."

The Bush administration works under a tight control of corporate-owned media, blatant lies, disinformation, Orwellian doublespeak, and a fanatical supression of information (secrecy) from nearly all arms of the executive branch.

What else do you expect? Every event and appearance Bush makes has to be tightly controlled, if not staged, cause he wouldn't last two minutes on his own merit.

When History came out, MJ, being the King of Pop, required that every shop that sells this album puts a golden MJ statue outside, in front of the shop... most of them didn´t, all retail got angry at him and still hates him for that stunt

Originally posted by melon I think this is worse than when Reagan had to know the questions in advance at press conferences.

Melon

Hi Melon, thought you might enjoy this, then...

Bush Administration Officials Admit that Press Conference Was Rigged

"In this case, we know what the questions are going to be, and those are the ones we want to answer," Bartlett said.

Bush's Distaste for News Conferences Keeps Them Rare

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2003;

The extended questioning of the presidential news conference was a regular exercise for all presidents of the recent past. But President Bush has turned the tradition into a rarity, both because of his distaste for the format and his staff's determined message management.

Bush went before 94 reporters for his eighth solo news conference last night as part of his effort to prepare Americans for a likely war against Iraq as increasingly insistent opposition from allies and skepticism at home grow.

At the same point in their presidencies, President Bill Clinton had held 30 solo news conferences (that is, without a foreign leader at a twin lectern) and Bush's father had held 58, according to research by Martha Joynt Kumar, a Towson University political science professor who specializes in presidential communication.

After two years and 45 days in office, President Ronald Reagan had held 16 solo news conferences, President Jimmy Carter had held 45, President Gerald Ford had held 37, President Richard M. Nixon had held 16 and President Lyndon B. Johnson had held 52.

Communications director Dan Bartlett said this White House uses news conferences more sparingly than other types of presidential events, because "if you have a message you're trying to deliver, a news conference can go in a different direction."

"In this case, we know what the questions are going to be, and those are the ones we want to answer," Bartlett said. "We think the public will see the thought and care and attention he's given to a lot of the different questions that are being asked about the diplomatic side and the military side and the potential post-Iraq issue. These are all legitimate questions that he has answers for and wants to talk about."

The news conference was Bush's second in the East Room or in prime time. The last was Oct. 11, 2001 -- four days after allied cruise missiles and bombers began dismantling the Taliban. Bush's last solo news conference, held in a more casual setting, was Nov. 7, two days after the Republican triumphs in the midterm elections.

Bush's aides point out that he frequently takes short bursts of questions from reporters in other settings -- most often, when cameras are allowed in at the beginning or end of a presidential event. The White House said that counting those, Bush has taken questions 216 times, not including one-on-one interviews. Aides said Bush disdains what they call the "preening" by correspondents that he considers an inescapable part of televised news conferences.

"The president thinks that sometimes East Room news conferences are more about the reporters and the theater of the moment and less about the substance of the answers," a senior administration official said. "So his inclination is to hold more, informal news conferences where the answers are the story and not lengthy questions on live TV."

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer echoes that sentiment, telling reporters that Bush "has been having his fun thinking about who's going to be dressed how, how the hair is going to look."

Robert Dallek, a presidential historian at Boston University, said citizens lose an important measure of the president when he is shielded from sustained questioning. "People don't want to just hear from the press secretary all the time," he said. "They want the real thing -- the horse's mouth."

To avoid a long buildup, and to give them the flexibility to drop the idea, Bush's aides announce a news conference only a few hours in advance.

Yesterday, Fleischer took reporters by surprise at 9:30 a.m. during his routine reading of Bush's public schedule, when he slipped in the fact that at 8 p.m., the president would hold a news conference.

Aides said the idea was first discussed Tuesday, and said Bush spent two to four hours preparing, between Wednesday night and yesterday afternoon. Clinton had formal briefing books and Kumar's research suggests some presidents blocked out whole days to prepare. Bush was given a memo consisting of about 50 possible topics with suggested answers. Then his most senior aides gathered around his desk in the Oval Office and fired practice questions at him.

Stephen Hess, a Brookings Institution senior fellow who was a speechwriter to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, said presidents can learn a lot about less-noticed parts of their administrations during the rigor of preparing for a full-dress news conference.

Hess said news conferences are often perceived by White Houses as "the matador in the arena, and all the bulls are after him." In fact, he said, they are usually tame affairs, with often flabby questioning and plenty of ways for the president to keep the upper hand.

he has the walk and posture of a leader.
he has had less sex in the Oval Office than his predecessor.
he has the respect of his wife.
he has the respect of his constituents.
he has the respect and love of the majority of his countrymen and the majority of the free world.

...not a perfect man, but a man w/righteous intentions..
The man is President George Walker Bush..